NSS Annual Report 2015-16

 The Kanwal Group meet at the Lakesland Community Centre. A big thank
you to the Benevolent Society which allows us to access the venue. During
2015 the group only met once a month, but since February 2016 the group
started getting together every second week. We have enjoyed cooking class,
Karaoke, Tai Chi, craft, Harmony Day Celebration, Picnic at Blackbutt Park,
Australia Day Celebration, morning tea for women’s Day, Painting, knitting
and sewing day. The volunteers are engaging well with the clients and enjoy
participating in the activities.

MSSS is pleased to have advocated on behalf of the Italian group who meet in
Wyong to gain a $500.00 grant from Wyong Council. These funds will assist the group
to pay for venue rental costs for their monthly get togethers.

MSSS Central Coast workers Marilyn and Natalia
with clients enjoying a Karaoke session

50

Chinese Social Support Project

Dongmei Zhang

Funded by
Department of Social Services

The Chinese Social Support Project (CSSP) aims to provide an appropriate social
support program to the frail people over 65 from Chinese background that live in
Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens and Maitland local government area.
The project continues to provide social support through three established groups. It
also provides one to one social support to our senior’s clients through our well trained
volunteers. Up to 30th June 2016, there were 46 clients registered with Chinese Social
Support Project. 8 new clients were referred from My Aged Care and 4 clients
moved out of the region.

CSSP Highlights

Monthly social support groups have been meeting at Jesmond Neighbourhood
Centre, The Place (Charlestown Community Centre) and The Bruce Community
Centre at East Maitland. Activities across these groups include English conversation
class (Newcastle), Tai Chi exercises (Charlestown), information sessions, celebration
of special cultural festivals as well as outings. The topics of information sessions
included working with interpreters, Centrelink updates, mental health, Australian
Aged Care system, Enduring Guardian, healthy heart, health literacy, Storm Safe
and falls prevention.

CSSP clients receiving the information session about My Age Care
at the Place (Charlestown community Centre)

During Seniors Week in March 2016, the Chinese seniors joined the other multicultural
social support groups to celebrate the Festival. All the clients enjoyed the whole day
program organised by the project coordinators, including Line dancing, Tai Chi
performance and Latin dance. One of the Chinese ladies became a regular
member of the line dancing group every Thursday evening after the Seniors Week
celebration.

The Cantonese speaking computer class was running fortnightly until Sep 2015. The
group was facilitated by an English speaking volunteer tutor and assisted by a
Cantonese speaking volunteer. Unfortunately since the English speaking volunteer
moved to paid work we were unable to continue this class in 2016. Some of the

51

group members started to use email to
communicate with the project coordinator and
they said they built up their confidence from the
computer class.

Volunteers

Until the end of June 2016, there are 14 volunteers

registered. During the last 12 months, 3 volunteers

resigned and 1 new volunteer was recruited. They

play different but vital roles. These include group

English conversation class, computer class tutoring,

Tai Chi group facilitating, telephone based CSSP clients visiting Maitland Art
monitoring, one to one English tutoring and Gallery
transport support for our senior clients. Individual

orientation took place for each volunteer

including Police Checks. All volunteers are regularly contacted – at least once a

month – either by meeting, phone calls or email to maintain communication and

support. Training has been made available for volunteers. A cruise lunch was

organised in appreciation for work done by the volunteers in Oct 2015. In Feb 2016,

a volunteer planning meeting was held at Northern Settlement Services (NSS). During

the National Volunteer Week 2016, all the volunteers received their certification of

appreciation at an event at NSS. An information session from Alzheimer’s Australian

was held at NSS in June 2016.

Promotion and Communication

The project coordinator has regularly participated at community events in order to
promote the service and recruit volunteers. Events such as the Multicultural Expo and
other events organised by the Hunter Valley Chinese Association. These included a
senior’s lunch get together in April and other Chinese Festivals’ celebrations.

Since 1st Jan 2016, the CSSP coordinator commenced sending group meeting
invitations and special event notices through email and a popular App used in the
Chinese community rather than mailing. The coordinator also used this App to post
the community activities and information in the Chinese language. This App made
the communication easy and effective for both clients and coordinator.

Receiving positive feedback from our clients and their families and seeing the
meaningful difference the project makes to Chinese seniors’ wellbeing and lives
provides a great deal of job satisfaction.

52

Community Visitors Scheme - Hunter

Irene Lupish

Funded by
Department of Health

This project continues to provide a service to CALD residents of Aged Care Facilities
and to those who live at home and are in receipt of Commonwealth Care
Packages. This program covers areas of Cessnock, Lake Macquarie, Maitland,
Newcastle and Port Stephens. During the past 12 months 13 facilities and 4 homes
were visited and 34 residents had volunteers attached to them. Those volunteers
made 543 visits and travelled 10,159 kilometres. Matching visitors to residents was a
challenging task. Residents were of Dutch, Chinese, Italian. Ukrainian, Russian, Polish,
Macedonia, German, Indonesian and Spanish background.

CVS Client's Background

Dutch 11
Chinese 8
German 3
Italian 3
Russian 2
Ukranian 1
Polish 1

To date, there are 16 volunteers registered. During this reporting period 1volunteer
resigned and 4 new volunteers were recruited. New volunteers undergone
orientation program and 6 volunteers were successfully matched with residents. This
year we have received 5 referrals from facilities and 3 from a Commonwealth Care
Package Providers.

53

Training and events were organised for the volunteers. In July 2015 training of
volunteers were conducted. This followed by a Volunteer Week celebration, and in
May 2016 a bus trip and cruise followed by lunch at Tea Gardens Pub was held
in appreciation of work done by the
volunteers. In December 2015 a Christmas
party was held with Santa Clause delivering
small gifts to those present.
Those residents who receive a visitor are
usually very isolated and lonely. Introducing
a visitor puts a big smile on their faces,
especially when they realise that the visitor
can speak their language and have the
same cultural background. Residents feel
that they are linked to the rest of the
community through talking with volunteer, reading newspapers and sharing their
news.
During this year, two regional meetings and 5 Team meetings were attended by
coordinator as well as state conference and training session. These events are
always very beneficial as they provide information and support for coordinators.
I would like to thank Lulu Tantos, Enza Di Stefano and Rasa Bajalis as well as team
members for their support.

54

Community Visitors Scheme - Central Coast

Nicky Wright

Funded by
Department of Health

The Community Visitors Scheme (CVS) matches volunteers with older people who
are socially isolated, for the purpose of friendship and companionship. The primary
objective of the scheme is social - any older person whose quality of life would be
improved by the companionship of a community visitor can be referred.

The Scheme operates across Australia for people who are in a Residential Aged
Care Facility, or living at home and receiving a government subsidised Home Care
Package (HCP). It is a free service for eligible Clients.

NSS CVS Central Coast, is funded to provide both group visits to people living in
Aged Care Facilities and one on one visits for people living at home receiving a
HCP.

During the reporting period a total of 29 Clients received visits from CVS volunteers
on the Central Coast. Clients come from 14 different cultural backgrounds. Of these,
23 people were in Aged Care Facilities - 8 different facilities in total. Six clients
received visits in their home as part of their Home Care Packages.

Group visits are a challenge due to the relatively low numbers of residents from
CALD backgrounds currently in Central Coast Aged Care Facilities compared with
major cities, therefore many visits are one on one. It is the view that if we maintain
the visits even if they are one on one there is a greater chance of developing group
visits.

CVS could not operate without the commitment and support from the many
volunteers engaged with the program - all volunteers have been extremely valuable
in supporting the people they visit. During the past 12 months 19 people have
volunteered with CVS.

Volunteers have received training including
Understanding Dementia, Maintaining
Professional Boundaries as well as ongoing
support and debriefing opportunities, plus
financial reimbursements for any out of pocket
expenses. Additionally, many of our volunteers
from non-English speaking backgrounds also
receive the benefit of practicing English with a
Client’s family, facility staff and so on.

Promotion of the CVS has included presentations to local TAFE classes,
advertisements in local newspapers, posters and flyers on community noticeboards,
correspondence with many local multicultural communities, and participation in
other local neighbourhood centre events.

55

The importance of the CVS scheme for Clients is enormous – I have been genuinely
and deeply moved by the interactions between Clients and Volunteers and many
of the comments made. This may be highlighted by the following short narrative: At
the first visit between a Community Visitor Scheme Volunteer and a Resident in an
Aged Care Facility, the volunteer and resident appeared to have a positive
connection.
The two acquainted with each other and engaged in conversation. The visit lasted
approximately 25 minutes. When the volunteer and I were leaving, we reiterated
that the volunteer would return the following week if the resident wanted her to. The
resident responded with “Yes, please come back, it’s lovely to have someone from
the outside visiting me – without you coming to visit I have nothing from the outside,
I’d have nothing”.

CVS Clients and Volunteers enjoying visits together.

56

Multicultural
Family Support

& Welfare

Funded
by

Department of Family & Community Services, Community Services

57

Multicultural Family Support & Welfare

Early Intervention & Placement Prevention (EIPP) Program

Petrona Kelly (Team Manager), Juanita Purcell-Loli, Elena Ferguson,
Lydia Manusiu, Hayley Bateman

Funded by
NSW Department of Family & Community Services

Operating Name: Multicultural Family Support & Welfare
Program Name: Early Intervention & Placement Prevention (EIPP)
The service operates predominantly in Newcastle, Lake Macquarie with outreach
services provided to locations across the Lower Hunter as capacity allows at
Maitland, Cessnock & Port Stephens.

The Early Intervention & Placement Prevention Program (EIPP) targets low to medium
at risk children, young people and families from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse
Backgrounds for short term support on identified issues in order to prevent escalation
of the problems. The duration of service could be three months, however could be
extended a further three months upon review or to a year if the client is re-assessed
as needing continuing service to achieve agreed goals.

This support service model is structured to deliver two streams of service provision:
 Child and Family Support targets families with children aged 0 – 12 years or
expecting a child.
 Youth & Family Support targets young people 12 to under18 years or families
with young people in this age range.

Young people and families may be experiencing a number of vulnerabilities which
may include:

 Lack of social support/extended family supports
 Difficulties managing children
 financial difficulties/poverty
 Cultural barriers/Transitioning
 Homelessness, alcohol and/ or other drug misuse
 Domestic violence
 Education, training, employment
 Justice/safety

The Welfare Team Service Activities include the following:

 Advice & Referral by providing comprehensive information and advice to
young people and families

58

 Assessment & Case Planning by providing assessment & case planning to
assess the strengths & needs, including any risks; plan & coordinate a mix of
services to meet the needs of clients

 Casework by undertaking activities to implement the case plans of individual
clients: information & advice, support, advocacy, referrals to relevant
agencies or specialist services, etc.

 Home visits delivered to individual family homes or other locations
 Counselling by providing counselling to young people and/or families who

have been assessed as needing counselling
 Practicals/Skills Development Groups by providing practical skills in a group

situation
 Parenting Skills Group by providing structured parenting programs
 Parent Support Groups by facilitating self-help/peer support groups for

parents
 Assistance is provided to people who have come to Australia more than five

years ago as refugees or as humanitarian entrants.

Group Work:
The Welfare Team is responsible for running groups at NSS premises or other
locations:

 MOMS (Mothers’ Obstetrics Multicultural Support) in partnership with Hunter
New England Multicultural Health Services at Waratah

 Multicultural Munchkins (Tarreqa Tots) at Multicultural Neighbourhood Centre,
Lambton in partnership with Family Insight

 NSS Multicultural Parenting Group at Waratah
 Multicultural Supported Playgroup at the Multicultural Neighbourhood Centre

(MNC) in Lambton working together with Kindergarten Union (KU), MNC &
Mission Australia
 NSS Multicultural Parenting Group - Held at Hamilton Public School on a
weekly basis
 Multicultural Playgroup Lake Macquarie in collaboration with Lake
Macquarie City Council & The Willows, being held at Uniting Church, Warners
Bay
 Woodrising Playgroup, a joint project between Wesley Mission and NSW
Community Services at the Woodrising Neighbourhood Centre in Woodrising
 NSS Multicultural Playtime Group in partnership with Multicultural
Neighbourhood Centre (MNC) held at the centre in Lambton
 Russian Bicultural Children’s Group being run at Wallsend; It provides Russian-
speaking mothers the opportunity to get together and make their children
learn the Russian language through plays, stories, music and other activities
while the mothers share their parenting skills in raising bilingual kids, among
other things. Guest speakers are also invited to talk about wellbeing, mental
health
 Filipino Women’s Group – meets monthly at NSS

During the year, Welfare Team provided approximately 2,883 instances of services to
clients. Their issues are inter-related in many cases and on many occasions a
client/family presented a number of needs/problems.

59

Issues/Problems Presented By Clients:

Issues/Problems No of Issues/Problems No of
Instances
Instances
250
Domestic Violence 300 Legal Matters

Settlement

Information/General 500 Immigration/Citizenship/Sponsorship 250

Information /Passport Applications/Renewals

Health/Mental Health 70 Housing/ Accommodation 57

Youth Issues 120 Education & Training 80

Employment 56 Police Matters 40

Child Support 40 Family problem 200

Income Energy Accounts Payment Assistance 305

Support/Financial 150 (EAPA)

Difficulties

Childcare 35 Ageing related Issues 65

Tax Help (ATO) 115 Other Issues 250

TOTAL 2,883

Other Issues/Problems/Needs:
Social/emotional, isolation, separation & divorce, death & bereavement, gambling,
discrimination, harassment, neighbourhood disputes, tenancy disputes, document
translation, language difficulties, supporting letters, transport difficulties, problem with
real estates, travel infringements, form filling, court support, JP signature, access to
belongings, cultural information, non-recognition of overseas qualifications,
problems with in-laws, OOHC, assistance in running community events, parenting
practices, etc.

Other Services Provided to Clients:
 On-going provision of emergency relief on Electricity (EAPA) and Gas
assistance vouchers not only to Culturally and Linguistically Diverse
Backgrounds (CALD) clients, but to Anglo Saxons as well who are on low
income and are Centrelink recipients. Assistance is also given to clients
having difficulties paying Hunter Water bills.

Referrals Came from: Women’s & Children’s Refuges, John Hunter Hospital, Mater
Hospital, schools, Family Referral, Centrelink, New England & Hunter Area
Multicultural Health, youth accommodation, Community Services, legal services,
solicitors, New England & Hunter Community Mental Health, Community Services,
Housing NSW, community organizations, self-referrals, Domestic Violence Court
Assistance Scheme, NSS Staffs, NSW Public Guardian, etc.

Clients Countries of Origin: Philippines, Thailand, Russia, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, India, Somalia, China, Japan, Spain,
Vietnam, Nepal, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Indonesia, Macedonia, Nepal, South Africa,
New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Germany, France, South Korea, Moldavia,
Russia, Australia and Syria.

60

Participation in Events:
Some Welfare Team members helped organised/participated/attended:

 Lake Macquarie Harmony Day celebration at Warners Bay
 Singleton Harmony Day celebration, Singleton
 Cessnock Harmony Day celebration, Cessnock
 White Ribbon Breakfast, West Leagues Club Lambton
 Child Protection Breakfast, New Lambton
 Multicultural Expo, Multicultural Neighbourhood Centre, Lambton
 River Lights Multicultural Festival, Maitland
 Refugee Week celebration
 Lake Macquarie Family Exhibition, “You Are Kidding Me Expo”
 CALD Child protection Forum

Indeed, it has been a very hectic year for the team, but a satisfying one. It is a
pleasure leading the Welfare Team for their continued hard work and cooperation
and who create such a wonderful working environment. Warm thanks go to each
and every one of them.

Harmony Day Celebrations

61

Multicultural Family Support Project-Families First

Miza Torlakovic

Funded by Family and Community Services, Community Services -Families
NSW

Project Description:

 The Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) specific Family Project under
Families NSW provides support to vulnerable disadvantaged families
comprising of first time parents and families with children aged 0-8 from CALD
backgrounds. The target group includes teenage parents and parents with a
developmental disability and/or parents with other special needs who live in
the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie LGAs.

Service delivery/ case management

 In the last year 91 families accessed the project, of this total, 55 were new
clients

 Families came from Afghanistan, Sudan, China, Iran, Bangladesh, India,
Congo, Croatia, Senegal, Bosnia, Qatar, Bolivia, South Korea, Nepal, Jordan,
Russia, Philippines, Peru, Serbia, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand,
Pakistan, Jordan, Kenya, Macedonia, Burundi, and Vietnam

Referrals

 mainly come from Hunter Area Health, Centrelink, Family and Community
Services, Women’s refuges, Child Care Services, Child and Family Health,
Housing services, TAFE, schools, community services, early intervention
services as well as through NSS and self- referrals.

 Throughout the year 591 face to face case contacts including centre
based, home and hospital visits and appointments to and with other
agencies/ service providers. Number of different issues presented and
addressed such as: parenting practices, health and children’s health, mental
health, child care, school issues, family/domestic violence, legal issues,
Centrelink, material/financial assistance, accommodation, immigration,
learning English, social isolation and assisting with filling forms. Also, 1943
emails and telephone contacts were made in the last financial year.

Group and Individual Programs

MOMS Friendship group

 Is a partnership with the Multicultural Health Services. This year 6 Sessions were
held on settling babies, kid safety, baby development, mental wellbeing/
post natal exercise, introducing baby food, child speech and language
development. 102 people attended including: mums, children, babies and
family members. Interpreters in Dari/Farsi, Thai, Vietnamese and Korean
languages were used.

62

Multicultural Parenting Group

 Throughout the year 10 group activities for CALD parents / carers with
children were held on a monthly basis. This group provides Information and
social support with topics based on parents’ requests. These include: early
child intervention, Positive Parenting Program (PPP), wellbeing, child and
mental health, Centrelink, Legal aid- Family law, healthy relationship,
relaxation/Meditation. 360 parents/carers and children attended.
Vietnamese, Russian, Thai and Dari interpreters were provided.

Multicultural KU Supported Play Group

 In partnership with KU, MNC, Mission Australia and Community Services. 38
playgroup sessions held with 475 parents and children attending. The families
attending also enjoyed sharing children’s birthdays, BBQ’s, picnics and the
fortnightly visit from First Chance Early start coordinator to support children
with behavioural concerns.

Woodrising Play group

 5 sessions were supported where 104 parents /carers and children attended.

North Lake Macquarie Play Time Group

 Multicultural Playgroup, based at the Willows, Warners Bay provides a friendly
and welcoming place for parents and carers with culturally and Linguistically
Diverse backgrounds living in Lake Macquarie area.

 It aims to encourage and provide a playing environment in which children
are able to play and make
friends while their diversity is
nurtured, respected and
celebrated.

 Activities for this play group
includes storytelling, music,
singing, games and craft, as well
as networking, support and
resources for parents and carers.
17 sessions with 363 parents /
carers and children attending
every 1st, 3rd & 5th Wednesday of
the month. Families enjoyed visits from guest speakers, library visits, and Xmas
party.

Afghan Women’s social group

 The new Multicultural Social group started in July 2015 in partnership with
Jesmond Neighbourhood Centre (JNC). The target group is primarily women
from Afghan background as most of them live just walking distance from the
JNC. This group is meeting monthly to break their social isolation including
children activities, sporting activities, and educational information sessions. So
far we had 10 Sessions and 264 parents and children attended.

63

Community Capacity Building

 This project in collaboration with Newcastle Mental Health Service, the
Multicultural Health Liaison Officer for Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol
Services developed the Multicultural Mental Health Parents Program which
was delivered monthly to the existing NSS multicultural parents group
providing education and information on mental health topics chosen by the
parents in the group. Examples of topics are postnatal depression, bullying
and mental health, eating disorders etc. Dari, Thai and Vietnamese
interpreters were provided.

 Lake Macquarie “You’re Kidding Me Expo” in Glendale was another success.
During the day we provided information about NSS projects and promoted
North Lake Macquarie Play Time Group.

 Supported by Sport & Recreation an 8 weeks learn to swim program was
conducted. Instructors worked with 12 girls aged from 5-10 years and 14 girls
from 12-25 year age group who were mainly from Afghan and African
background.

Afghan Families Harmony Day

 Approximately 200 people from the Afghan Community attended hugely
successful day in Partnership with Jesmond Neighbourhood centre and
Hunter Women’s Centre which was aimed at providing awareness of family
violence as well as focusing on family harmony and healthy relationships.

Lake Macquarie Harmony Day

 This was another major community event in which CALD Family Project
participated to raise the positive profile of multiculturalism in the Lake
Macquarie area.

Refugee week Celebration organise by Hunter Refugee support Network

 Over 200 refugees from Africa, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Syria attended very
successful - Mid Winter Refugee Fiesta. Jumping Castle, face painting, Fire
brigade, games, food, Newcastle Muslim Association participation,
entertainment and it was lots of fun for all.

Networking and other Forums

 Much of the success of this project has been due to its ability to network with
other organisations. This offered good client outcomes through the project
workers and knowledge about specific services through the various agencies
partnerships. Other networking through formal meetings, interagency and
other forums to share information on the target group, make appropriate
referrals to familiar services and to develop a strong base on issues that
impacted on CALD families clients.

Another busy year with positive outcomes for the Families NSW project.

64

Community Builders Program including
Playing around the World

Pari Batha / Natalia Meliendrez

Funded by
NSW Family and Community Services, Community Services

and Benevolent Society

The Project raises awareness about the Central Coast Culturally and Linguistically
Diverse (CALD) Community. It works closely with the CALD community, local
community leaders, advocates, service providers and other relevant networks. The
project supports the Central Coast CALD Community to participate in general
events and facilitates opportunities for members of the CALD community to
exchange their cultural experience with the wider Central Coast Community.

Community Development:

The project has been involved in several areas of community development and
these covered a variety of approaches including promoting the CALD community
through a monthly Community multicultural cooking program, a monthly
Multicultural Film Night (Film Global) and through annual events like Harmony Day.
Harmony Day was celebrated for the 2nd time with the First Grammar After-School
Care and First Grammar Child Care with around 60 children attending. Other
Harmony Day celebrations were held at Green Point Community Centre with 18
attendees, and a large celebration held in conjunction with Gosford Council and
the regional ethnic groups at Kibble Park with over 300 people in attendance.

Community Capacity building included partnering with other agencies and
programs, for example the Central Coast Multicultural Interagency (CCMI) and
participating in the Multicultural Expo and Central coast Interpreters Day. Two
workshops; one with NSS Natural Disaster project for Ass Malayalam (Indian group)
and the other with Central Coast Community Legal Centre which were held to
support our local Pacific Islanders and Maori group/communities.

Cultural awareness presentations to TAFE students were another component of the
project.

Mapping Project

Perhaps the most important community development work undertaken during this
period was in mapping the CALD communities on the Central Coast. In this capacity
200 people were interviewed from 58 countries with 50 different languages spoken.
The Central Coast population/demographic has been changing with groups such as
those from India, China and Thailand being among the newer and larger groups as
compared to the much older Italian, Greek and German communities. Among the
newer groups gender is a significant issue with women making up the majority of the
Chinese and Thai populations and with Domestic Violence being a more common
issue for these communities.

65

Leaders from 10 leaders from ethnic Groups listed below were interviewed. These
included two Chinese groups (the Central Coast Chinese association and Australia
China Friendship Association), two Indian groups (Assi Malayalam and Ekta Mandir),
the Tairoto Marae Maori group, the Central Fijian group, the Italian Friendship
Society, Alliance Francoise, the Korean Women’s group and the Central Coast
African Community. All of these groups have experienced difficulty locating
meeting venues at an affordable price and meeting public liability insurance
requirements, in order that they can organise community gatherings.

Multicultural Movie Night (Film Global)

The Multicultural Movie Night has been a regular event that has taken place on the
second Friday of each month and Movie night is hosted by a different local ethnic
group. This is a partnership between the project and Central Coast Council
(previously referred to as Gosford Council) Youth Services. The evening starts with a
cultural performance and culturally specific foods that are introduced to the
audience and then a film from the host country. The local cultural groups that
participated and facilitated the evenings included the French, Iranian, Argentinian,
Indian, Italian, Chinese, and Turkish communities. In addition we held a Youth Short
Film competition on Youth week. Between 26 to 50 people attended the movie night
each month.

Multicultural Cooking class

The “Cooking class” is now a regular feature at the Green Point Community Centre
on the last Wednesday of each month. This project is a partnership between the
Green Point Community Centre and NSS. 11 Community Cooking Classes were held
with 141 individuals attending. The cooks were from Chile, India, Iran, Turkey,
Thailand, China, Peru, Tonga, the Philippines, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.

Meeting and Networks:

The project participated in several meetings including the Central Coast
Multicultural Interagency, the Multicultural Expo Committee, and the CALD
Domestic Violence Committee. The project was involved with the filming of the Out
of Shadows DV DVD. The project also provides information and referral for a variety
of CALD clients.

Playing Around the World: takes place at The Entrance Community Centre, Blue
Haven Community Centre and Gosford and Narara Community Centre. The
objectives of Playing around the World are to bring families together to share ideas,
experience friendship and give children the opportunity to learn through play.

Cultural background materials have been produced for the children to cover areas
such as free play, craft, play dough, dance and music, story time, sensory activities,
traditional food and games. Harmony Day, Chinese New Year, Anzac Day, St.
Patrick Day, and various independence days have been celebrated.

Workers from different organizations attend promoting their services and programs
and running activities to support the mothers and families. Some of the topics
covered a healthy cooking class, craft making, parenting programs, keeping

66

children safe, and preparing for natural disasters, information on the Central Coast
women’s health centre or the Department of Human Services is also provided.
Participation is encouraged in school holidays activities run at The Entrance
Community Central and Lakelands Community Centre at Kanwal in collaboration
with Benevolent Society and Horizons.

 At Playing Around the World families receive support to help to engage with
the proper support thought out all the weekly activities and observations,
sensory play and excursion to the library, and the beach.

 Parents participated in speech screening and access to a free “speech
session” supported it by Blue Haven School as a Community Centre, the “Sing
and Grow program” and the “Imagination Library, these programs are
funded by the Benevolent Society and also support families with children with
Disabilities and behaviour issues.

 Playing Around the World played an important role last October with the
Benevolent Society getting together and running a “Playgroup Day”
combined with the launch of the “Multicultural Children Resource Centre
Mobile Van” where different service organizations prepared activities to
present to families; all worked together for a beautiful combined Playgroup
day.

 The Benevolent Society provided evidence based training through the “small
talk” program where our Playing around the World coordinator completed
the “E learning module” and attended the two day workshop on “small talk”
to be able to implement it at the Playing around the World sessions as a C4C
funding body requirement.

 Multicultural Children Resource Centre: PAW continues to access multicultural
resources to support the sessions of Playing around the world and the
Multicultural Children Resource Centre Van had visited the PAW sessions with
dress up and activities.

At the Playing Around the World sessions we have parents from: Colombia, Peru,
Thailand, UK, Italy, Greece, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, Lebanon,
Indian, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Cook Island, Fiji, Poland, Irish, Philippines, New
Zealand and Australia.

Group time with mothers “Playing around the World”.

67

Brighter Futures Program

Early Intervention Program

Zenaida Edmunds & Desie Erhart
Funded by

Department of Family & Community Services & Samaritans

Brighter Futures (BF) Program is a state initiative funded through the Department of
Family and Community Services (FACS) to provide intensive and preventative
support to vulnerable families with young children up to 8 years of age, where the
children are identified as at risk of significant harm.

This program is voluntary and takes referrals from FACS, Child Protection Team and
non-government agencies. In Newcastle and Lake Macquarie areas, BF program is
delivered by non-government agencies with Samaritans Foundations as the lead
agency. Northern Settlement Services (NSS) is one of the partner agencies which
provides the home visiting component of the program to CALD families

Brighter Futures Program supports families that are experiencing; domestic violence,
drugs and alcohol problems and when one or both parents suffer from mental illness.
The aim of the program is to support families to prevent child abuse and neglect.

The support provided to these families includes accessing child care, financial
counselling, and referrals to relevant services such as mental health professionals,
parenting classes, playgroups, homework support, court support, drug and alcohol
counselling.

Home Visitors support to families includes; role model positive parenting, positive
interactions within the family, provides parents with strategies in guiding children’s
behaviours, establishing routines with children, preparing healthy and inexpensive
meals, healthy school lunches for children and building positive relationships within
the family.

Each family is being supported by a Case Manager and a home visitor, family’s
goals are identified and written in the Family Case Plan, which is reviewed every 3
months to monitor achievements and identify new goals for the family.

The majority of families supported this year were in domestic violence situations,
alcohol abuse and mental illness.

Regular home visits were provided to 4 families from Afghanistan, Iranian, Japanese
and South Korean backgrounds. Home visits were also provided to 3 families from
Rohingan families in Morisset for specific and time limited support and information on
Parenting in Australian context.

68

Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) Sessions have been conducted to 5 Iranian
families.

Total No. of Home Visits: 90

Total No. of Visiting Hours: 190 hours

Total No. of Adults (Parents/Carers) Supported: 15

Total No. of Children Supported: 21

Issues Addressed:

Playgroup Access 35

Child Care 15
Child Development 21
Parenting Sessions 26
Transport 32
Behaviour Problems 21
Financial Counselling 10
Support VISA Inquiry 5
Family Relationships 15
Housing/Accommodation 26
English Language Support/Information 11
Social/Community Participation 29
Baby’s Sleeping pattern Information 10
Diet/Nutrition/School Lunches 15
Toilet Training Information 11
School Transition Information 10
292
Total

Activities:

Coordinate the running of the Multicultural Playtime Sessions every Friday morning
during school terms at the Multicultural Neighbourhood Centre (MNC). Provide
transport to CALD background families to attend the KU Supported Multicultural
Playgroup every Tuesday morning during school term at MNC.

Other Activities attended during the year included: Harmony Day Celebrations, BF
Family Fun Day and Refugee Week.

Brighter Futures Program has continued to provide much needed support to
vulnerable CALD background families with young children. It has been a very busy
and rewarding year; I would like to thank my colleagues, Pet Kelly, Welfare Team
Manager, Lulu Tantos NSS CEO, the Admin staff and NSS Board of Management for
their ongoing support.

69

Events NSS has participated in during the year.

Parenting & Life Skills / WH&S

Helen Buchanan

Funded by
Department of Social Services

Throughout this year, I attended about one day per fortnight, offering
Refugees, Migrants and vulnerable families opportunities to continue to develop life
skills and capacity engagement through parenting and cultural development
support.

The client group evolves and changes as we engage them to identify and meet
their needs. Attendance is of a smaller group nature and those coming have had
developmental delays with their children and have found mainstream support
groups overwhelming. It has been valuable to be able to provide such unique
support to the families that have attended. They often provide positive feedback
around the benefits they and their children have gained.

Activities such as those providing guidance on bonding and attachment,
boundaries and setting limits with children became the usual way of approaching
concerning issues. Sharing of relationship troubles and complexities has also taken
place. Many of the women that have attended have poor social support networks
and have developed a strong network within and between the group members
enabling them to feel more resilient and independent.

Several referrals have been made to other services for health and development
concerns with the children – one was identified as having a hearing deficit due to
delayed speech. Another had failure to thrive issues due to health problems. The
mothers attending were very grateful that they had support through this program.

WORK HEALTH SAFETY

Work Health Safety support and
resource for Northern Settlement
Services continues with some
inhouse education updates for
staff. Safety audits and general
monitoring is provided. Staff are
now more familiar with the WHS
processes and freely raise issues
that are addressed by the
management.

Whilst there is always lots of
policy work and changes
happening in this area there is
need for constant research, updates and learning.

70

Complex Case Support Program

Petrona Kelly

Funded by
Department of Social Services

Complex Case Support (CCS) provides specialised and intensive case management
services to humanitarian entrants with complex and high needs. The program
provides flexible, tailored and localised responses to the needs of all individuals in
each case.

Northern Settlement Services has a contract with the Department of Social Services
to provide these services in Newcastle and the Hunter Region.

CCS is specifically targeted at supporting clients whose needs extend beyond the
scope of other settlement services such as the Humanitarian Settlement Services
(HSS) and the Settlement Support Program (SSP). CCS is designed to work in
partnership with other settlement and mainstream services to address the significant
barriers these clients face in settling in Australia. Complex Needs may include:

 Mental health (including torture and trauma)
 Physical health
 Family violence intervention
 Personal, grief or family relationship counselling
 Special services for children and youth
 Support to manage accommodation, financial or legal issues

Referral to Complex Case Support can be done by any organization or person such
as:

 Service providers funded by the department
 Commonwealth, state or territory government agencies
 Community & health organizations
 Local church & community groups
 Volunteer groups
 Self-referrals

What happens to a referral?
The Department of Social Services assesses each referral and decides whether to
accept it on a case-by-case basis. Each case that is accepted is allocated to a
member of the Humanitarian Services Panel or another contracted service provider.
The client is informed whether or not the referral has been accepted.
An Initial Needs Assessment (INA) is completed by the service provider. This is usually
done by meeting the client face-to-face and discussing what they regard as their
needs and the information in the referral. An INA may also be requested by the
department to assist in deciding whether to accept a referral. A Case Management
Plan (CMP) is developed by the service provider for the accepted case. The CMP
sets out the activities that will be undertaken to address the key issues identified
through the referral and needs assessment of the client/s. Once the department
agrees to the CMP, the service provider starts delivering the services through a case
manager.

71

Eligibility: The main client group of CCS are:
 Refugee entrants
 Special Humanitarian Program entrants
 Protection visa holders and persons who hold or have held a Temporary
Protection Visa

CCS services may be delivered as a short crisis intervention of up to 14 days or as
case management services up to six months.
Clients are eligible for services for up to 5 years after their arrival in Australia, however
flexibility may be shown to this timeframe in exceptional circumstances.
This year, NSS received two referrals which are now completed.

72

Natural Disasters Resilience Strategy, Community
Resilience Innovation Program

Katie Sewell – Community Engagement Coordinator
Funded by

NSW Department of Justice

On the 30 August 2016, the Natural Disaster Awareness Program the ‘project’ was
honoured by the NRMA and NSW State Emergency Service, after receiving a
Community Connect Award for preparing communities for natural disasters in the
Hunter Region.

The aim of the project was to develop and implement a comprehensive natural
disaster strategy to build resilience in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD)
communities across the Hunter Region and Central Coast.

The project developed an educational workshop for CALD communities including a
toolkit of resources.

The project was funded by the Department of Justice NSW Office of Emergency
Services. The funding was provided to Northern Settlement Services Ltd (NSS) through
the Community Resilience Innovation Program (CRIP) to deliver a Natural Disasters
Resilience Strategy (NDRS). Partnership between Northern Settlement Service (NSS),
NSW State Emergency Service (SES) and NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS).

The Advisory Committee was a collaboration including representatives from NSS, SES,
RFS, NSW Police Force, NSW Family and Community Services, Australian Red Cross
and The Samaritan Foundation.

The project commenced in March 2015 and concluded in June 2016 with the
implementation of a number of resources for use by service providers principally
working in the community with members of the CALD group and other vulnerable
‘at risk’ groups.

An information film (full version) was developed and is translated into several
languages including; English, Arabic, Dari, Hindi, Thai and Standard Chinese. A
workshop and facilitators guide was also developed in partnership with the CALD
community and piloted and evaluated during the project. The film can be used as a
standalone training tool, shared through social media or used in the specifically
designed workshops with participants and contains information about the function
of emergency services and how to prepare, respond and recover from natural
disasters. An important aspect to the development of this project is the portability to
other regions. The uptake and delivery of the Natural Disaster Awareness workshop
will be facilitated by motivated community leaders, Government and Non-
Government Organisations including emergency service workers to prepare their
own clients and/or communities for natural disasters. The resources produced by this
project are absolutely relevant to the wider community and are available for free
via the NSS website.

The short version of the film is available in English only and runs for 2 minutes. The aim
is to personalise the risk about natural disasters for the viewer. It simply asks a range

73

of questions ‘only’ and contains relevant vision of natural disasters provided by NBN
News. The questions are answered in the full version of the video.

The newly developed strategy also includes; the implementation of ‘Evacuation
Advice Pictorial Cards’ used by emergency services, ‘Emergency Service Contacts’
magnet produced, ‘Natural Disaster Awareness Workshop Participants and
Facilitators Manuals’ developed and other resources developed including
‘Unprepared and Prepared House’ picture, ‘My Home Emergency Guide’ and
‘Natural Disaster Banner’ to be used by NSS and emergency services at events such
as expos.

Natural Disaster Awareness Pilot Workshop with the
Congolese community

Natural Disaster Resilience Strategy Partnership
between Northern Settlement Services Ltd, NSW
Rural Fire Service & NSW State Emergency Service

Evacuation Advice
pictorial cards

designed to assist
emergency service

workers during
emergencies.

74

Events NSS Has
Participated In

2015/16

75

Refugee Week 2016 at Waratah

Afghan Harmony Day

You Kidding Me Expo Lake Macquarie

Harmony Day - Singleton

Multicultural Services Expo

Afghan Harmony Day Broadband for Seniors Class displaying their certificates.

76

NSS Settlement Team at SGP Rural Conference at Department of Social Services, Sydney

Swimming for young female New Arrivals at Wallsend Swimming
Centre with Lane 4 Aquatics and NSW Sport & Rec

NSS Workers Rose & Rasa at Maitland
Riverlights Festival

Refugee Week 2016 NSS worker Lydia at Refugee Week
Family Funday 2015 Film Night

77

Beach Safety for New Arrivals with Cooks Hill Lifesaving Club NSS Worker Amalin at Fiesta La Peel festival
at Bar Beach in Tamworth

MOMS and MPG Christmas party 2015 Afghan Women’s Social Group School holiday program with
‘Mainly Music’ in Jesmond

National Volunteer Week Morning Tea

Multicultural Parenting Group Centrelink information session

Refugee Week 2016 at Waratah

78 Multicultural Expo Central Coast

Immigration Advice
&

Assistance

79

Immigration Advice & Assistance

Lulu Tantos, & Henriette de Jong
(Reg.#0318123) (Reg.#1462231)

.

Northern Settlement Services (NSS) has been operating a dedicated immigration
advice and assistance service for over 20 years to clients in the Newcastle, the
Hunter area and in the regional areas of NSW. Our registered Migration Agents
provide professional, up to date advice and assistance to ensure that the
immigration process goes as smoothly as possible for our clients. Immigration law is
complex with many different visas being available depending on our clients’
circumstances.

We assist in:
 Temporary residence options
 Permanent visa options
 Humanitarian and Protection visa
applications
 Appeals to the AAT and the Minister

During the last financial year approximately 630
sessions with clients from diverse backgrounds
were held and over 500 instances of phone
advice were given by our Migration Agents.
Many of the clients seen were applying for
humanitarian visas. The Migration Agents have
dealt with clients from Afghanistan, Australia,
China, DR Congo, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Iraq,
Nigeria, Philippines, Sudan, Thailand, USA and the
Ukraine.

The majority of clients applying for humanitarian

visas were from Afghanistan. As is a common New citizen Larry with NSS worker

pattern, the most recently arrived refugee Lydia, proudly displaying his

community lodge applications mostly for Citizenship Certificate.
humanitarian visas for family remaining overseas.

A number of applications for family visas were also lodged by this group and other

members of refugee communities.

Appointments with a Migration Agent are provided via a Skype service to residents
of the Central Coast, Orange, Bathurst, Dubbo, Tamworth, Armidale and the mid
North Coast. Migration information has been provided as education for service
providers and presentations to groups of clients in Lithgow, Bathurst, Cowra and
Orange.

80

Financial
Statements

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99